Destination California: Tami Heide’s Golden Road Trip

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 07: Traffic flows under the Mulholland Bridge on Interstate 405 which is slated to be demolished during the 11 miles shut down of Interstate 405 on July 7, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. The interstate 405 will be closed for 53 hours due to a freeway widening project starting July 16. Los Angeles city officials are advising residents to stay home or stay away from the area over the weekend fearing massive traffic jams of what has become known as "Carmageddon." (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

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The first time I visited California was with the family in our brand new station wagon. Me, sis, Mom and Dad drove cross country from Pennsylvania, visiting friends and relatives in Ohio, Minnesota and Washington state. In fact, the Puget Sound is where I learned to swim.

Basically, my great aunt and uncle threw me off the dock sink or swim style. I’m glad I survived to tell about it. We also visited Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Old Faithful, the biggest ball of yarn and nutty stuff like that. The best part was driving from San Francisco down the coast to Anaheim and ending up at Disneyland. To this day driving up and down the California coast is one of my favorite road trips. You can drive for ten or 15 hours and still be in California, not true in most states. Try doing that in New England, you’ll go through 3 or 4 states in that amount of time, and possibly have to contend with a snowstorm! No thanks, I’ll take California.